50 Words or Less
The PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver hits the sweet spot between the more demanding Lightning Tour and the larger, uber-forgiving Lightning Max-10K+ drivers. Great performance, lower spin, but still plenty forgiving. Tons of adjustability and fitting options.
Introduction
If you have young people in your life (or if you are young yourself), you know that “mid” is not a compliment. It’s used to call something average or even mediocre, worth nothing more than a shrug.
Despite the name, the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver is anything but mediocre. The middle ground between the Lightning Tour and the Lightning Max-10K+ drivers, this could be the sweet spot for golfers who want to play a high performance driver without giving up much forgiveness.
Looks
At address, the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver hits a sweet spot between stretched out max forgiveness drivers and intimidating Tour-style ones. There’s a slight pear shape which enhances the more compact front-to-back dimension. The crown is primarily glossy black carbon fiber with a gentle “X” alignment aid on the solid black front edge. PXG has done away with crown graphics, save for a subtle white line at the trailing edge.
In the bag, the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver has a very clean look. The sole is mostly carbon fiber, and the branding is minimal, pushed to the edges of the sole. As with all PXG clubs, the Lightning Tour Mid driver is entirely black, white, and silver
Above, you can see the PXG Lightning Tour driver on the left and the Lightning Tour Mid on the right. To my eye, the Tour has a meaningfully smaller footprint, especially when they’re side by side. The Tour Mid is a great middle ground; the Lightning Tour driver is for those that really want a compact, Tour-style head.
In the photo above, you can see the PXG Lightning Max-10K+ driver (right, review HERE) next to the Lightning Tour Mid driver. The Max-10K+ is slightly longer from front to back, and the face is a bit shallower. It’s not a dramatic difference, even when they’re side by side, but there’s enough that many gear heads will have a clear preference. Going from the Max-10K+ all the way to the Lightning Tour is a much more noticeable leap.
Sound & Feel
As I noted in my review of the Lightning Tour driver [find it HERE], PXG did an exceptional job making the impact sensation consistent across all three Lightning drivers. Speaking as a fitter, I think this is great because it frees golfers to choose the model that performs best without compromising on feel and sound.
The sound of the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver is a “pop” that’s strong and solid. It’s not a ringing metallic tone; it’s more wooden and staccato. The volume is at most average, and there’s modest audio feedback. Mishits sound a bit dissonant compared to pure strikes.
If there’s any difference between the three drivers, it comes in the feel. The Lightning Tour Mid and Tour have a slightly more solid impact feel, though I’m not sure I would have clocked it if I wasn’t hitting all three in a row. Your hands will also get fairly precise feedback on impact location.
Tech Talk
There’s a lot of interesting technology behind the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver, so we’re going to discuss that separately from what the club did on the range and on the course. This section is for the gear nerds. If the tech doesn’t interest you, feel free to skip ahead.
Looking at the Lightning Tour Mid driver, one of the first things you’ll notice is the sharp ridge in the center of the sole, what PXG calls “Spined Sole Design.” This is a key part in the Lightning’s Frequency Tuned Face. We have heard some OEMs talk about frequency before, but it’s always been in the context of dialing in the sound. PXG is using frequency to enhance performance. By tuning the frequency of the head to 4500hz to match the impact interval of the golf ball (how long it’s on the club face), PXG’s engineers have been able to increase face deflection, leading to more ball speed.
As always, PXG is willing to offer hard data to back their claim. Compared to the Black Ops driver [review HERE], the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver produces an extra 1.7 MPH of ball speed with a 100 MPH swing and an added 1.8 MPH with a 120 MPH swing.
The other big tech feature is the enhanced forgiveness. Despite being built for better players, PXG wanted to make the Lightning Tour Mid more playable on mishits. They did this through a larger carbon fiber sole plate – 74% bigger than on the Black Ops. This led to a 12% boost in overall MOI compared to Black Ops Tour-1 and a dispersion that’s over 10% tighter.
One final tech note: PXG etched the face of the Lightning drivers. This was done at the behest of PXG’s Tour players to make the face more visible. While looks may have been the driving force, testing showed that the etching also had performance benefits: dispersion area decreased by over 100 square yards in both wet and dry conditions.
Performance
When reviewing a club like the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver, I always start with the same question: “On the spectrum from ‘Tour’ to ‘Highly Recreational,’ where exactly does this club live?” Based on my testing, the answer is, “Right in the middle.” The Lightning Tour Mid balances the Tour’s high end performance and the Max’s extreme stability.
Hitting all three drivers, I got to see the three tiers of forgiveness very clearly. Virtually no contact was bad enough to make the Max produce a poor shot (that’s why it came home with me). The Tour was forgiving relative to its peers, but it lost meaningfully more ball speed and distance on mishits compared to the Max. In between was the Lightning Tour Mid. There was a gap between my best strikes and my bad ones, but the bad ones were still playable.
There are at least two reasons for giving up some amount of forgiveness: shot control and ball speed. PXG’s data states that at 100 MPH swing speed, the Tour Mid creates 0.4 MPH more ball speed than the Max. The bigger difference is in shot control. If you want to flight the ball up or down or bend it left and right, the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver feels more capable than the Max. There’s likely an amount of personal preference in this – I’m not suggesting the Lightning Max can’t shape the ball – but there is also some science.
Turning to launch and spin, the PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver is – you guessed it – between the Tour and the Max. With a 100 MPH swing, the Tour Mid launches 0.3 degrees lower and spins 150 RPM less than the Max but is higher in launch and spin than the Tour. This makes it a great choice for players who want to see a slightly stronger ball flight but don’t want to risk hitting knuckleballs. My numbers don’t match PXG’s exactly, but I’m not a robot.
Finally, PXG’s fitting and adjustability continues to be among the best in the game. Personally, I wouldn’t say “among” – I think it’s simply the best. The hosel has eight positions, allowing you to add or remove 1.5 degrees of loft while adjusting the lie and face angles. What sets PXG apart is Precision Weighting Technology. The PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver has three ports that accept weights ranging from 2.5 to 20 grams. This offers a huge range of options for swing weight, draw or fade bias, and modifying spin and MOI.
Conclusion
When you balance high performance and forgiveness, there’s nothing mediocre about being Mid. The PXG Lightning Tour Mid driver gives better players much of what they like about Tour-style clubs without losing sight of the fact that they need consistency, too.
Buy the PXG Lightning Tour Mid Driver HERE
PXG Lightning Tour Mid Driver Price & Specs
He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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